J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2021, 15(1): 69–81 TS Asgarian et al.: Fauna and … Original Article Fauna and Larval Habitat Characteristics of Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Kashan County, Central Iran, 2019 Tahereh Sadat Asgarian1; *Seyed Hassan Moosa-Kazemi1; *Mohammad Mehdi Sedaghat1; Rouhullah Dehghani2; Mohammad Reza Yaghoobi-Ershadi1 1Department of Medical Entomology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Department of Environment Health, School of Public Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran *Corresponding authors: Dr Seyed Hassan Moosa-Kazemi, E-mail: [email protected], Dr Mohammad Mehdi Sedaghat, E-mail: [email protected] (Received 08 Feb 2020; accepted 24 Jan 2021) Abstract Background: Mosquitoes are responsible for spreading devastating parasites and pathogens causing some important infectious diseases. The present study was done to better understand and update the fauna of Culicidae and to find out the distribution and the type of their larval habitats in Kashan County. Methods: This study was done in four districts of Kashan County (Central, Qamasr, Niasar and Barzok). Mosquito lar- vae were collected from 23 active larval habitats using a standard 350ml capacity mosquito dipper from April to late December 2019. The collected larvae were transferred to containers containing lactophenol, and after two weeks indi- vidually mounted in Berlese's fluid on a microscope slide and identified to species by morphological characters and valid keys. Results: In this study, a total of 9789 larvae were collected from urban and rural areas in Kashan County. The identified genera were Anopheles, Culiseta and Culex. In this study larvae of An. turkhudi, Cx. perexiguus, Cx. mimeticus, Cx. deserticola and Cs. subochrea were collected for the first time from Kashan County. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate the presence and activity of different mosquito species in Kashan County that some of them are vectors of arbovirus and other vector-borne diseases. Keywords: Mosquito; Larvae; Surveillance Introduction Arthropod-borne diseases have always been tion of the tribe Aedini (6). This family has two a major health problem in different parts of Iran. subfamilies, Anophelinae and Culicinae in Iran. Transmission of malaria, filariasis, enceph-alitis Azari-Hamidian et al. (1) reviewed mosqui- and other arboviral diseases by mosquitoes have toes of Iran and their medical and veterinary made mosquitoes the most important arthro- importance. There are diseases caused by mos- pods in medicine and health (1-3). The mos- quito-borne pathogens in Isfahan Province in- quitoes are from the order Diptera, suborder cluding Avian pox (chickens, pigeons and tur- Nematocera and the family Culicidae (4). Sev- keys), West Nile fever (horses and humans), en arboviral diseases, two bacterial diseases, Anthrax (sheep, cattle and goats), mosquito- four filarial and two protozoal diseases which borne filariases (camels) and bird malaria (tur- are assumed to be transmitted by mosquitoes keys, hens/roosters, pigeons and migratory wa- are found in Iran (1, 5). One genus and spe- terfowl). cies (Mansonia uniformis) was added to Iranian Because of their high adaptation to differ- mosquito checklist, thus there are 70 species ent habitats, mosquitoes are successful organ- and 8 (or 12) genera depending the classifica- isms and are found all over the world except 69 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: March 31, 2021 Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited. J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2021, 15(1): 69–81 TS Asgarian et al.: Fauna and … Antarctica. Mosquito larvae are found in a range tion of garden of birds in Qamsar that have led of habitats, including natural and artificial hab- to the entry of birds from 17 different coun- itats, with temporary or permanent, stagnant or tries into the area, therefore, fauna and ecolog- flowing waters, contaminated or clean waters, ical study and obtain data on larval habitats, with or without vegetation, and even in the species composition, active season, and activ- smallest places where water accumulates in it, ity peak of mosquito larvae in Kashan County such as pots, used tires and animal footprints are very important in integrated vector manage- (2, 3). ment. An entomology check program was felt Based on literature, In Isfahan Province, ten after more than three decades in the county and species of Anopheles: An. algeriensis, An. clavi- a specialized study was done to better under- ger, An. dthali, An. maculipennis, An. marteri, stand and update the fauna of Culicidae in An. messeae, An. multicolor, An. sacharovi, An. Kashan County and to find out the distribu- superpictus, and An. turkhudi have been report- tion and the type of their larval habitats in the ed (7-15). An. messeae was recorded based on region, which can lead to preparation of basic egg chorion pattern (9). Zaim (10), Saebi (11) information in the country and region and if and Mousa-Kazemi et al. (12) reported the necessary, be effective in adopting the right Anopheles sacharovi and An. maculipennis of strategy of integrated vector management. the Maculipennis Group, based on morpholog- ical characters. The recent group species was Materials and Methods also being verified later by PCR technique (13). Ladonni et al. (14) reported three species Kashan County is located in the north of of An. dthali, An. marteri, and An. turkhudi to Isfahan Province, between Karkas Mountains the fauna of the Isfahan province. Seven spe- and the central desert of Iran. This county is cies of Culex have been reported in Isfahan bounded on the north by the central desert and Province including: Cx. hortensis, Cx. mimeti- the city of Qom, on the east by the desert plain, cus, Cx. modestus, Cx. perexiguus, Cx. pipiens, on the south by the towns of Borkhar and Mey- Cx. territans, and Cx. theileri (10, 12, 16, 17). meh and Natanz and on the west by the city of Culiseta longiareolata, Cs. annulata and Cs. Mahallat. Kashan County has four districts (Cen- subochrea are cited in the province (10, 12, 17). tral, Qamsar, Niasar and Barzok) and seven cit- Three species of Ochlerotatus caspius s.l., Oc. ies (Kashan, Meshkat, Qamsar, Niasar, Jow- pulcritarsis, and Aedes vexans have been re- shaqan, Kamoo and Barzok). This is a faunis- ported in the province (10, 12, 18). Zaim (18) tic and descriptive-sectional study that was done reported Uranotaenia unguiculata. Based on in four districts of Kashan County including Ladonni et al. (14) there are at least 24 spe- Central District (Kashan and Meshkat cities), cies and six genera in the province. Qamasr District (Qamasr, Kamoo and Jow- Little information is available about mosqui- shaqan cities), Niasar District (Niasser City) toes in Kashan County. Zaim (10) mentioned and Barzok District (Barzok City). some aspects of mosquito larvae and adult ecol- The climate of the county varies depending ogy in Kashan County and relieved that the oc- on ups and downs. The uplands are cold, foots currences of 14 species in this area. Doroud- are temperate and plains, and especially on the gar et al. (15) studied the epidemiology of ma- margins of the desert are tropical. This county laria in Kashan. This limited information are has a special position due to located on a large not sufficient as the basis to prevent possible chain of roads in the country, located on the epidemics of mosquito borne diseases. Because north-south transit route and located on the main of the importance of mosquitoes in medicine communication route between eastern, western, and health and disturbances caused by bites, the northern and southern cities and provinces (19). special location of Kashan County, climate In this study, larval habitats were visited in changes in the county, as well as the construc- 77 urban and rural areas of the county and 23 70 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: March 31, 2021 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2021, 15(1): 69–81 TS Asgarian et al.: Fauna and … active larval habitats were selected (Figs. 1, 2). District) and Qazaan (from Qamsar District) Permanent or temporary, natural or artificial lar- had the highest and lowest abundance of mos- vae habitats, with or without vegetation, slow quito larvae, respectively. In terms of mosqui- flowing or still water and full or partial sun- to fauna diversity, the Central District (Kashan light in urban or rural areas, visited and sam- and Meshkat cities) with 3 species (Cx. pipiens, pled monthly. Larvae and pupae of the mos- Cx. theileri and Cs. longiareolata) had the least quitoes were collected using a standard 350ml species diversity and districts of Barzok and capacity mosquito dipper from April to late De- Niasar with 11 species had the highest mos- cember 2019. Twenty dips were taken in each quito larvae fauna diversity. In terms of time larval habitat. Sampling were always done by distribution, the highest number of larvae was the same individual in the morning (08:00– in August and the lowest number of larvae 12:00h) or afternoon (15:00–18:00h). Larvae was in December. In this study, Cx. pipiens, from small water bodies collected by eye drop- Cx. theileri, Cs. longiareolata and An. super- per. The collected larvae were transferred to pictus s.l. showed the highest time dispersion. petri dish containing lactophenol and the date, All Anopheles species in this study were col- collection site and habitat type of the larvae lected from natural habitats. Among the Cu- were recorded with special code on the contain- licinae species, Cx.